Rima Nashashibi talks about the Arab-American political scene at GUST

The A. M. Al-Refai Library at Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy, hosted Arab-American community leader and women’s empowerment expert, Rima Nashashibi for a cultural exchange seminar with GUST students to learn more about the Arab-American political scene in the U.S. and how it relates to them.

Ms. Nashashibi is an internationally recognized political and community leader, with more than 20 years of experience in public speaking, seminars and media appearances on political involvement, women’s issues, gender equity and religious and racial anti-discrimination. Ms. Nashashibi was also one of the founding members of the Arab American Caucus of the California Democratic Party and was the first chair.

During the exchange with the students, Ms. Nashashibi discussed  Arab-American politics, She also spoke about the many influential and political Arab-Americans about whom many students were not aware of; to name a few were Donna Shalala – current president of the University of Miami, Helen Thomas, George Mitchell, Charles Abdelnour, and even Ralph Nader.
Ms. Nashashibi also dicussed the political affiliations of Americans, explaining that some are Democrats, but the majority of Arab-Americans tend to vote Republican. The seminar focused on the key message that all Arab-Americans should unite to advocate, raise awareness, and build political will through networking and empowerment. Nashashibi explained that her goal is to promote civic engagement with Arab-Americans and Arabs in the U.S. and abroad. She explains, “to make this happen, we have to go beyond all the things that divide us.”